Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome back to another fabulous term of learning. We begin this term learning from home, however we hope to be back in the classrooms shortly and continuing the wonderful program we have for Term Three.

Please take a few moments to read about the learning we have planned for this exciting term.

IMPORTANT DATES

Monday 2nd August - Attitude to School to Survey
Wednesday 11th August – ICAS Digital Technologies
Wednesday 18th August – ICAS English
Monday 23rd August - ICAS Science
Wednesday 25th August – ICAS Spelling
Wednesday 1st September – ICAS Mathematics
Friday 17th September – End of Term Three – Dismissal at 2.30pm
Monday 4th October – First day back for Term Four

LET’S WELCOME OUR NEWEST TEAM MEMBER

Hello! My name is Kimberley Stevenson and I am so happy to be a part of the Level Five team, teaching 5D. All the learners, parents and staff have made me feel so welcome! I have recently moved back to Melbourne after living in the Northern Territory for two years. I was teaching in a remote Indigenous community called Kaltukatjara (Docker River) which was very rewarding, challenging, insightful and beautiful! During my time there, I learnt the local language of Pitjantjatjara.

Here are some fun questions the learners have been asking...

Some of my favourite countries that I have visited are: Canada, Japan, Cook Islands, France and Morocco amongst others.

Some of my interests are: camping, running, baking, gardening, going to the beach, renovating and creating graphic illustrations.

I am looking forward to a successful Semester Two. Please be sure to say hello!

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING

Throughout Term Three, the students will further enhance their voice by unpacking the Student Perspective Survey in greater detail. They will explore what they like to learn and how they are able to communicate this with others to allow for student voice within the learning sequences. This term, Level Five students have the opportunity to participate in ICAS. It is important to note that this may cause anxiety in students, and they may require additional reassurance from parents and loved ones.

ENGLISH

Our Literacy focus begins on building the capacity of Level Five students to analyse, compare and transfer poetic language devices from their reading into writing. When one hears the term poetry, the idea of rhyme and set structures are often perceived. However, our students are going beyond this to investigate rhythm and flow in free verse styles and hone in on techniques such as figures of speech, sensory details, perspective and sentence structures. Students will also aim to move beyond ‘comfort words’ by expanding their vocabulary and trialling words with greater precision, meaning and feeling in their writing. Through this, they will determine their author intention and the impact their writing might have on another person. Towards the end of our poetry unit, students will elevate their spoken fluency through the accurate use of punctuation and grammar in formal presentations and performances.

MATHEMATICS

In Mathematics, Level Five students will broaden their understanding in Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability aligned with the Victorian Curriculum. In Term Three, we will focus on financial maths through the creation of budgets for a holiday with our families. Students will deepen their excel skills as they project and research costs related to travel within Victoria, Australia and Internationally. They will record their information and graph costs using the most appropriate representations for the data. As we move through the term, we will be explore chance and probability as well as shape, location and transformation. Throughout term, there is a focus on providing students with real-life transfer and learning within context to enable the use of new mathematical knowledge beyond the classroom. This empowers our students to be truly numerate in their environment!

INQUIRY

This term’s Inquiry unit focuses on Dance! Students will explore the question, “How do cultural beliefs and practices influence dance?” while also exploring the United Nations Goal #5 – Gender Equality. This unit of inquiry will be explored through explicit teaching and also make strong links to our Poetry unit of learning in literacy. We’re going to analyse multiple perspectives when interpreting dance and deepen our understanding of symbolism.

To support your child’s learning at home, you could encourage them to:

Share their learning with you. Use this opportunity to have them reflect on their author strategies that they have used and explain the purpose of using them.
Share your own cultural dance with your child and discuss its meaning and purpose. As you watch cultural dances from around the world, pause to question “what are they trying to communicate?” and “what made me think this way?” Please share your discussions with us, we love to hear how our incredible students, transfer their thinking back home!
Utilise directional language such as compass points to discuss routes as you travel.
Discuss percentage discounts while shopping and share mental strategies.
Think flexibly about numbers by asking how they came to a number and is there another way?
Share your understanding of excel formulas to support financial budgets.

If you have any other queries or matters you would like to discuss with your teachers please don’t hesitate to organise a meeting. Your child’s wellbeing is always at the centre of our thoughts and actions.

We thank you for your ongoing support and assistance. We are looking forward to a wonderful year.

Kind Regards,

Ivana Krsteska, Bianca Liburti, Trish Singh, Kimberley Stevenson and David Joyce

Glen Waverley Primary School Level 5 Newsletter

DREAM. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE. SUCCEED.

Issue 3 · 28 Jul 2021

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